Saturday, July 31, 2010

Andrew has been on a cooking roll for about a week. Monday we had taco salad with Greek yogurt (my fav!),Tuesday we had steak fillets and veggies, Wednesday we had meatloaf, peas and carrots, and so on and so on. But then, yesterday night (we are spending a coveted weekend in before the wedding ... my phone has even died and I did not put it back on the charger. Did anyone else do this two weeks before the big day?) his cooking streak came to a halt, when our wedding Le Creuset cookware exploded in the oven and the farmer's market pork loin (because yes, farmer's market makes a difference--it tastes so much better!) didn't even cook all the way through.

Our loss. We ended up grilling the pork loin and it was delish.

So tonight, I was really, really wanting pizza, mushroom and cheese pizza to be exact. But Andrew and I are on a wedding diet that doesn't include bread, beer, pasta or rice. It's kind of forcing us to be creative. This past week, we've eaten tons more veggies (more meat too, which I'm not so fond of ... I'm pushing more vegetarian dinners, but we'll see how that goes over.) Tonight, we came up with this.

This kinda looks gross but is delish.

We baked some frozen chicken in olive oil and added lots of basil and lemon juice as well as cracked black pepper, salt and tomatoes and carrots for about 30-45 minutes (we just checked it in between Instant Netflix.) We topped it with a couple slices of goat cheese and our only complaint is that we didn't make more. A rare culinary win in this househould, y'all, and so, so easy. Next time we'd want to stuff it probably, but if all you have is frozen chicken strips, this rocks.

Recently, Andrew bought Sawyer a $7 dog chew. I was skeptical, as I had picked out a $1.99 toy shaped like a pig's nose. But at Andrew's insistence, we bought it. It is a 12 inch beef stick called a Pizzle.

Initially, I was thrilled with how long the Pizzle lasted, how it didn't splinter when Sawyer chewed on it (he chokes on everything, so he's not ready for bones and we don't give him rawhides) and how I could distract him from biting the backs of my knees by telling him, "Sawyer, leave mom alone and go play with your Pizzle."

Sawyer and his Pizzle.

But then I Googled it and no, I am not going to share the Wikipedia results. Coincidence, I thought. Silly naive dog-treat namers. If they only knew.

But a second Google search, this one being "Pizzle dog chew," warranted this description, straight from Doctors Foster and Smith themselves, those naive dog chew makers:

"Made from real dried steer pizzle, these treats are a great alternative to rawhide."

Friday, July 30, 2010

Today was quite an eventful day for wedding planning. On the way to Andrew's office this morning we dropped off the wedding rings for engraving (at a trophy shop), and then we went to Urgent Care clinic (for the second time, mind you) for our blood tests, because we live in one of the handful of states that requires you to get tested for syphilis before you get married. The first time we went, the clinic was packed and I felt very angry to be around 20 sick people just weeks before the wedding. We ended up leaving, but today when we went back we got our tests right away and had a great nurse, who told Andrew he had "veins like garden hoses." That's my boy.

We get our results back tomorrow though, so needless to say we're on the edge of our seats. (This is when a grammatical symbol for sarcasm would come in handy and I need to knock on wood.)

And then, we ... drum roll please ... saw a mock up of our wedding centerpieces! This is a very big deal, because our florist was MIA for months, and then handed us off to another employee, Kaylee, who straight up rocks. I love Kaylee. Back when I was naive, I had the idea that to go with the vintagey feel of our wedding, we would collect vintage milk bottles and other bottles and scatter them around, mismatched, for the centerpieces. At first I perused antique shops and picked up old soda bottles, milk bottles and jars, and then I turned to Hobby Lobby's 50 percent off sale on glassware.Honestly, this morning I was regretting this decision and considering asking the florist to just get glass vases. But after seeing the arrangements, I'm feeling a lot better. We went with yellow and white daisies, September flowers and billy balls (although Kaylee substituted yellow buttons for the billy balls in the mock-up, and there will actually be some sort of natural raffia on the finished product.)

Andrew's mom, Donna A., and I had gathered such a variety of vases, I was worried that the arrangements would be too random, but Kaylee had gone through and found just one that she didn't think would work, which she sent home with us, filled with some of our flowers. Here it is.

Our actual centerpieces will have three bottles/jars/vases of varying sizes. Kaylee put some together for us. They actually had long pieces of grass sticking out of them at first, but it kind of looked like too much, so we ditched it. The larger vases will have some sort of leafy greenery as filler, though.

Oh and also we added more (caramel, three-chocolate) cupcakes to our order, which is always a great idea. If only our wedding could be this cute:

Thursday, July 29, 2010

With the wedding just a couple of weeks away, I've not only been thinking a lot about all that's left to do, but also about how it's going to feel when there is no more wedding to plan. Basically, about five days into the engagement we started planning, budgeting and stressing, and have done that for almost exactly nine months. I really had no idea how hard planning a wedding was, or how one stray comment can completely make you fly off the wall or just burst into tears. I've definitely learned a few things throughout the whole process that I wish I had known (just out of courtesy to other past brides and grooms) as well as going into it.You can't make everyone happy. It would be great to please all 120 of your wedding guests, right down to their favorite finger foods, a climate-controlled outdoor wedding and bouquets for everyone, but it is just not possible. Of course, I feel it is important to please the main players like your future in-laws, grandparents and parents as much as possible (this day is very important to them too, and they want to feel involved, so if they want to pick out napkins and fabric and help choose the menu, let them do it!) But at the end of the day, make sure you and your fiance are happy. The childhood T-ball teammate who doesn't eat fish can suck it.

RSVP at all costs. Always, always, always RSVP. Even if you haven't spoken to the bride in 10 years, if she invited you, she needs to check you off the list. And if the invitation comes with pre-paid postage, your offense is even worse. Andrew and I didn't RSVP to two of the four weddings we've been invited to, and we both feel horrible about it. Even if the bride and groom know for a fact you're coming, it's still a nice gesture to return the RSVP card or visit the wedding website. But at least let them know in some way.

Stick to the registry. Unless you've verified it with the couple, don't go off-registry. (It is okay to stray if you know for a fact you're getting your friends something they want but didn't have an option to register for.) But if you are strolling the aisles of Macy's or Belk, and you choose to purchase a cheese dome that's not on the registry, it's safe to assume the couple saw it when they were registering, said "Wtf would we need a cheese dome for?" and went along their merry way. Andrew and I pledge to be better wedding gift buyers after this, though, as we've straight up sucked in the past and even went (gasp!) off-registry once (the second time doesn't count because I knew for a fact the bride, wanted it!) Maybe we deserve to be punished.

Ditch the (Elaborate) Details. I'm obsessed with personalized wedding things like napkins, tags/labels and wedding favors. I think these details make the reception venue cute and fun for guests, but at some pointyou. must. stop. Everything can be personalized these days, from matchbooks to banners to toasting glasses--the list is endless. When you start spiraling out of control, reel yourself back in by asking, "If I was a wedding guest, would I care that I am drinking wine and beer instead of a signature cockatil created for the bride and groom out of sparkling cider and grapefruit vodka and puppy tears?" The answer is no, (and drinking puppy tears would be gross.) That thought would never cross your mind; you'd just be happy to be drinking. In fact, guests wouldn't even mind if there were no favors--the free food, music and drink are enough. Simplify your wedding planning and have a glass of wine, bia.

Recently, I spiraled into the black hole of detail-induced dementia, during which I almost sentenced my guests to a hot, dry death. (Sorry guests!) A week or so ago, my future MIL and I had the idea to provide water bottles for guests while they wait in the blazing hot Mississippi sun for the ceremony to begin (in hindsight, maybe we should provide sunscreen too!) since the buffet won't be open yet and that's where the water, lemonade and iced tea will be. I temporarily thought, "Oh no, this means, I'll have to order personalized water bottle labels to match the tags on our wedding favors." Then I thought, "I can't possibly do that, there's no time, I will simply let my guests thirst to death in their chairs." And then, it hit me: No one will care or even notice if the water they're sipping is Dannon brand and not Lindsey & Andrew, August 14, 2010. What a relief!

5. Send a gift, even if you can't make it to the wedding. Because it's just really fun to get gifts.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Andrew and I are obsessed with plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt and here's why you should be too: You can substitute it in almost any instance you'd use mayo (it's a great way to lighten chicken salad because it has no fat, tastes quite delicious and is 90 calories per small package) or sour cream. Heap it on top of tacos or baked potatoes guilt free. 'Cause we all know light sour cream just doesn't cut it.My current favorite use for Greek yogurt is to mix in lots of lemon juice and a dash of cumin, and either dip fresh veggies like red bell peppers into it or top turkey/avocado pitas with it.However, it is apparently quite easy to mistake vanilla yogurt for plain, so be careful. Vanilla and taco seasoning don't mesh.

Monday, July 26, 2010

It was actually not a lazy Monday, and it was actually the first day Andrew and I gave up beer in preparation for the wedding. But then we heard that the Blind Pig, a local bar, was hosting a one-time beer tasting. We sampled the Colonel Basil, a take on a local Mississippi brewery's Rebel Ale, but brewed with basil and some sort of grapefruit tea. Delicious, and they only made one batch, so we amended our diet to be "no beer unless a one-of-a-kind brew is being served down the street." Touche diet, touche.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

My bff and bridesmaid Lexi hosted a lingerie shower at her house with her mom, Linda, the night before the bachelorette party. Not only was it lots of fun to get together with my family (it was in my hometown, so almost all of the ladies in the fam were able to make it) and friends, but Lexi and Linda didn't overlook a thing, proving that the best bashes are all in the details. The color scheme was pink and black, from the napkins to the wrapping paper they used for one of the shower games to the pink cream cheese on the finger sandwiches. I can't wait to go all out and host a shower for Lexi in a few months, when her March wedding date is a bit closer. Oh, and it was also fun to rack up on some cute honeymoon-wear!

Pictures tell the story of this cute lingerie shower the best.

Lexi made these cute little heart cookies and we had them again at the bach party the next night.

These healthy snacks were freakishly good the night/morning after the party in NOLA. What a genius idea to pack up all the leftovers!

One of the shower games included decorating undies. Here's my mom with her stop-sign design!

They actually said, "Stop in the name of love," but for a few minutes Mom appeared to be attentively drawing just a stop sign on the back of them.

The designer of the winning pair got a prize--my aunt Cathy's "Not Tonight I Have a Headache" was the winner that night.

And then I ended up with lots of granny panties decorated in permanent marker. Andrew was thrilled! It was such a fun game though. We also played, "Pass the Teddy," a spin on hot potato that had everyone sweating for at least a few minutes. I'm not going to go into detail, because if the surprise ending is quite fun!

Lexi made a delicious trifle. It was so, so, good and apparently everyone has trifle dishes and was inspired to make their own. I had to Google it, proving that Lexi is by far a superior food maker, probably the reason A is trying to pressure her into going to culinary school and not me.

Trifle: A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake soaked in sherry, rum or brandy and topped with layers of jam or jelly, custard, and whipped cream.

and delicious-smelling hand sanitizers from Victoria's Secret (image from here.)

Obviously the necessities for a night out in NOLA.

For some reason we didn't get a shot of the whole group, so a special thanks to Linda (who did make it into one picture above) and Rachel's mom Julie, who sent me lots of pics that I used in this post!

This morning I woke up with an excited knot in my stomach. I've had many sleepless nights during wedding planning, and many moments of stressing out (the florist didn't call me back for awhile, the band we wanted wasn't available) but this was the first morning that I realized this is actually happening. Plane tickets are purchased, people have taken days off of work, payments are being made--and A and I have to stand in front of about 100 people (so far, according to the RSVPs) and hope everything goes as planned. It's not the ceremony I'm worried about, but the actual coming together of it all. Luckily, I have a wonderful MOH who just got married in October and her bff, Elizabeth, who just celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary in July, has kindly offered to be the day-of coordinator. But I have to get so many specifics. What time will the cake be there? When will the event rentals be there? And to top things off, I just realized the paper lanterns I have don't have skeletons to keep them round, so they will just hang squatty in the trees. Honestly, I'll probably just buy eight or nine new ones this week when I'm in the city for work.I have a major Hobby Lobby trip planned--A's sweet mother finished off the bottle collection, I think. (Our centerpieces are going to be in mismatched bottles for a vintagey feel.) But, I need to get ink for the guest book (more to come on that later), ribbons to tie tags onto the favors and, if possible, a chalkboard to write the catering menu on, just because I think it's cute. And A and I still have to get blood tests (ah, the beauty of living in the backwoods Deep South), apply for the marriage license and add some things to our event rentals order, as well as go over our budget, order fabric for table toppers and add more cupcakes to our order, all of which I plan to do before Wednesday of this week.

I love this idea. We'll definitely use it if I can find a cute, affordable chalkboard.

Also, I changed my phone number and need to call all the vendors and let them know. Another thing I'll probably do tomorrow. And I haven't even picked out how I want my hair done! But that's the least of my worries. I also need to make appointments for nails and waxing (more on that later too!). I'll probably just make a list today and hack away at it. We still need to print some engagement pictures for our frames that will be displayed at the reception (for the sole purpose that we needed non-floral decor since we are $96 over budget).

Centerpiece inspiration, minus the moss and lemons. Ours will be on fabric squares.

So let's see what I can knock out today: printing pictures, ordering table toppers and catching up on thank-you notes. Then I've got some work today for well, actual work, but tomorrow I should be able to do the event rentals stuff, bug the florist and add more cupcakes to our order. And then by the end of the week we will have gotten our blood tests, applied for the marriage license and need to drop the rings off for engraving (another one I forgot about!)

I'll be so happy when everything is solidified, Eliz has a schedule and to-do list in hand and a team of boys to do it all, and I am happily in my wedding dress and it fits (I have an extreme fear that it won't zip, which is why I am going to really buckle down these next 20 days and eat right/work out as much as possible. I don't have a gym membership and can't afford one until after the wedding and it's too hot to run outside, but A does have an exercise bike that I plan to use.)Wow, so there we go! Off to shower and then cross some stuff off of this list!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Recently, during an intense, wedding-frenzy Google search, I stumbled upon the wonderful world of free templates. All kinds of templates for things like do-it-yourself matchbooks, favors, everything. My favorite find so far? (Besides the realization that people, seriously, refer to save-the-dates as std's, which was very confusing for the 20 seconds it took me to figure out.)

So cute! Just download the font and template here, plug in your wedding info, print and mail. The creator only asks that you comment so he knows how far his design has gone.

This STD (hehe) was perfect for our summer wedding, since the actual ceremony will take place under a tree and we have a whole "New Leaf" theme going on in general. We had toyed (by toyed, we went as far as to personalize the invites, have a designer friend add some color and then abandon the project when it came time to pick paper) and were still toying with the idea of sending them out. But about three months from the wedding date, I decided to set my paper-product-loving sights on something more important: the invitation.

But, if we had a little more time, I totally would have sent these out!

Here are some other cute wedding templates. All photos are from Martha Stewart Weddings, as Martha Stewart rules (she even came out with an adorable doggie line of products).

Remember Sharky the Sharkdog, from that old cartoon Eek the Cat? My brother and I used to watch it as kids. A little refresher:

Well you wouldn't know it looking at him, but this sweet boy is actually a crazy sharkdog that chews on my hair while I sleep.

Last night he peed in--let me repeat, in-- the bed while Andrew and I were sleeping. And then, he woke up gagging at two different times; the second time, I reached down his throat and pulled out two nasty wads of soft plastic. No wonder the little puppy was so uncomfortable! I have no idea what he ate. Was it one of these?

This is a lie--we buy Great Value water in this house!

On good nights, he sleeps most of the time, but almost always wakes up at some point and bites me (it's quite disturbing to wake up to your puppy chomping on back fat you didn't know you had ... he bit the bottom of my foot once too, and I didn't even know there was anything to get a hold of down there) and if he's not biting me, he wraps around my head and chews on my hair, resulting in a reoccurring knot that I thought I would have to cut out yesterday, but was able to untangle.

Don't get me wrong, he is a good boy and he's only 10 weeks old so of course he's bad (and we know, Cesar Milan, it's all our fault as his owners), but he's going to be a large dog we think (his mom looked like a 40 pound puggle, but Sawyer looks more lab and was the biggest of his litter) so Nurse A and I had been discussing crate training him to sleep on the floor anyway. Cesar Milan would definitely approve of this, as Cesar (the Dog Whisperer for non-dog people) loves crate training.

Sawyer already stays in a crate during the day and he doesn't seem to mind it (probably all the treats he gets when he goes inside) so maybe this weekend will be the weekend we stock up on earplugs and break our puppy of his nighttime Sharky the Sharkdog/Sharky the I-Pee All-Over-My-Mom's-Side-of-the-Bed habits.

Wish us luck! He's still in his formative weeks, so hopefully we can train him after all!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I work in Tennessee, which is about an hour-and-a-half commute one way. I usually only go into the office twice a week, but we have one busy week each month so I go in three or four times. And while I'm driving, I contemplate life. Current topics include the wedding (I missed my exit this morning trying to figure out if we have enough wedding cupcakes or not) and home life. As I was contemplating this morning, I reflected on yesterday in which Andrew acted really womanly and I was clearly the man. Here is our schedule (keep in mind that Andrew also works and is writing a thesis):

7 a.m.-My alarm clock goes off. I get in the shower. Andrew gets up and makes coffee.7:15 a.m.- Andrew irons and starches my button-up shirt. (Yes, starches. And yes, I even dressed like a man yesterday.)

work, work, work, work.

7 p.m.-I get home from work. Andrew is plating a delicious meal of grilled pork chops, baked sweet potato wedges and steamed broccoli (he used our new steamer for the first time!) He has already opened our box of wedding favors that arrived in the mail, examined them and decided they are "classy."

7:05-Andrew pours himself a glass of chardonnay and me a chilled glass of beer. We eat.

8 p.m.-Andrew starts talking about darning socks. I have no idea what that means.

Courtesy of Google:

darn/därn/Noun: A place in a garment that has been mended in such a way.Verb: Mend (knitted material or a hole in this) by weaving yarn across the hole with a needle: "I darn my socks"

What a great fiance! I pledge to put on an apron and make (turkey) meatloaf at some point in the near future. Also, to thank him, I am going to buy him a new pack of socks today, as I so no need for him to actually darn his old ones.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Recently, my main ladies and I celebrated my limited days as a bachelorette in New Orleans--so much fun, and my first time on Bourbon, even though I grew up about an hour and a half away. (The one time I walked down Bourbon during the day in highschool, a piece of toast--like toasted toast, not just bread--fell on my head. That didn't happen this time, but I now realize it could have been worse ...) I got to see some bffs I haven't seen in forever and hurricanes were had by all (well, almost all--the smart ones stuck to beer.)The night flew by, and then bridesmaid Rachel and I were back on the road for our six hour drive home. Here are some highlights from the night, snapped by my wonderful MOH, sister and apparently fab party planner and Ashley.

Flavors included strawberry lemonade, and ... well that's all I can remember. But they were good!

Aren't these cupcakes adorable? They're from Frosting, a cupcake shop on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the area from which I hail. Ash picked up 18 of these babies, all in different flavors, to fill the eighteen slots on her cupcake stand.

Bachelorette accessories.

The set up. Not sure if you can see it, but the cupcakes are too big for the stand (there were so many that we didn't even get to sample all of them.) And yes, those are peen antennas in the center of the table. Bridesmaid Lexi rocked them all night and she looked pretty awesome.

Then my long lost friends Willow and Alex showed up in true NOLA style--rockin' to-go daiquiris they picked up just outside of the city for their drive in.

On our way to dinner at Emeril'sNOLA Restaurant (which was delicious and everybody unanimously regrets not ordering the buttermilk fried chicken and bourbon mashed potatoes so get it if you go!) we took a group picture. I love these girls!

First, we outfitted ourselves in bachelorette wear. Ash wore the leopard princess kitty crown (leftover from the lingerie shower Lexi hosted the night before--recap to come), while Willow went for a more roaring twenties look with her feather. Check out the peen antennas!

We saw Andrew's suit in the window of the J.O.S. A. Banks store connected to our hotel, and it was quite exciting. I had to pose.

There were so many other bachelorettes out in about, but this pink-haired lady was staying on the same floor as us. Notice she's holding cash in her left hand; I had a rainbow peen pop in my right hand, but I cropped it out to maintain my internet reputation. Shady, I know.

To sum it up there was dancing, drinking and late night pizza eating. And then we woke up to this:

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Yes, that's right, bloggerverse. I am, in fact, nobody's wife ... yet. But if all goes as planned (read: my main hangout guy/fiance, Mr. A doesn't hit the ground running) then this blog will be legit in 27 days (wish someone had told me not to sign up for the Knot e-mail updates...) I feel the faint tingling of a hive breakout when I think that, not because I'm nervous about marriage but because I hope it all comes together!

But regardless to if we have too many people to fit in the rehearsal dinner venue (my latest nightmare subject) or if it rains and we have to move our cute little garden wedding inside the beautiful historic home on the property (which would completely ruin the color scheme), I will be Mrs. A on August 14, making our new little labrahound a legitimate boy!

Meet the (not much longer) little guy:

Sawyer, pound hound extraordinaire.

Mr. A and I do live together already though, in this cute little number: (it was the windows on just one side that originally caught our interest, and luckily our painter failed at matching the beige paint colors already inside and did the walls a yellow color, so it's bright inside regardless!)

We just moved in in May, after living apart for a long, long year, but more on the house and our year apart later. It's an unpacking work in progress. The smallest three-story house ever.

A little about us:

My main hangout guy and I met on Facebook before it was creepy, I swear (remember when just college kids could have Facebook?) Being the crazy eighteen year old that I was, on the brink of freshman year, I started adding people who had the same interests in music, etc. and one, the alphabetically superior Mr. AA (no, not that AA...) popped up at the top of my list every time, so I added him, we exchanged messages and then ceased any conversation until day one of my freshman year. On the way to my first class, with my bff Willow, we spotted him, affectionately known by the student body as "Nurse A," at the time, djing a remote for the student radio station outside of the Union. The romantic exchange went like this:

Me: "Are you Andrew?"
Nurse A: "Yes, who are you?"

Hold on tight, because it only got more fairytale-esque from there. After I made a point to walk by Nurse A about six times in one day (and call my mom to declare "I'm in love!"), I got this carefully crafted Facebook message and fell head over heels in love with this modern-day Romeo.

In case you can't read that, here are the highlights: "well, looks like we finally met by accident. your cuter in person. so how was your first day of class? well ill holla at you later."

Luckily, Nurse A turned out to be much nicer and better at his compliments in person and a much better speller than illustrated in that message (a good thing, since we're both writer/editors). So, after four years of dating, he proposed on October 30, 2009 and obviously I was thrilled and accepted. Our sweet puglet, Winston, acted as the engagement pug. He had some major health problems at the young age of two, and we've since lost him, but he will always be our love pug.

See the ring around his collar? What a sweet boy he was! We miss him everyday.

The bling.

So there you have it, a quick intro about the famiroo (as Sawyer, who apparently talks in a Scooby Doo voice pronounces it.) Oh, and also I suck at being domestic which is what this blog will mostly be about.

Well, see ya. Nurse A just pulled some enchiladas out of the oven (I helped make them, I swear, I just don't like to touch hot things in the oven so he took them out.)